Monthly Archives: July 2016

Four days ago, two p.m., Arielle and I have been working for about three hours on the L’Amérique rewrite. We are hungry, and over the last three weeks we’ve eaten at every franchise restaurant in a five-mile radius. Arielle says, … Continue reading →

About a decade ago, I began writing a book I originally titled The Church of America, dealing with my family’s decision in the mid-50s to immigrate to the United States from Paris, France. It started as a few vignettes about … Continue reading →

I was juggling my coffee and bagel at the local coffee shop yesterday morning, trying to find an empty booth. There was one available in the rear of the restaurant, and as I squeezed between tables to get there, I … Continue reading →

I say I have finished writing a book. Arielle says I have not. This may be a semantic or philosophical issue. This very morning around four a.m. , I typed the last words of my novel, L’Amérique, an opus that … Continue reading →

“So apparently my name is Milou.” “Like the little white dog in Tintin? You could do worse. They could have called you Snoopy or something equally ridiculous. Like Marmaduke. Or Odie.” “I suppose. Unfortunately, Milou makes me Belgian.” “Really?” “Yeah. … Continue reading →

So there are hamsters. Two of them, officially Phodopus Roborovskii, also known as desert hamsters. Imagine your thumb, fur covered, with four legs, a twitchy nose and beady black eyes. They were spectacularly active in the pet store but I … Continue reading →

I have a backyard, the standard amount of property behind most Northern Virginia houses built in the 60s. Originally, it was roughly a quarter acre, but a few years back when the county was ridding itself of surplus land, I … Continue reading →